168 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[ February i, 1910. 



ing Co., and an alteration in title has since been made. After 

 the prospectus had been published a letter appeared in several 

 papers from Sir Charles Laws-Witterwrange, Bart., saying that 

 he was already working a similar process at the works of the 

 Millwall Rubber Co., London, and saying further that Mr. Berry, 

 one of the experts named in the prospectus, was wrongly de- 

 scribed as late manager of the Millwall Rubber Co. This letter 

 was replied to in the press by Mr. Berry, who gave evidence of 

 his having held the particular position mentioned. There the 

 matter remains at present, but I believe I am right in saying that 

 the letter from the Millwall works had a very adverse effect upon 

 the application for shares. I understand that the particular 

 patent which is now being worked at Millwall is Gare's. With 

 regard to the press notices of the new company, it is particularly 

 noticeable that journals which printed two columns of the pros- 

 pectus very generally referred to it in their notes as being a 

 speculative or risky investment. Thus the Financial Times: 

 "The £9,000 secured by the promoters seems quite enough in the 

 circumstances." The prospects of the patent are obviously very 

 speculative, and depend on commercial success and on the public 

 demand for the goods which it might be more economical to ob- 

 tain manufactured out of new rubber." Of course this is a 

 fair surmise, but as far as I can judge by the present demand 

 for reformed rubber goods it would seem that the plantation 

 rubber people have some reason to look with disfavor upon the 

 new company, as it must have the effect of reducing the demand 

 for new rubber, if the expectations of the prospectus are realized. 

 Having bought a pair of goloshes for the first time in my life 

 I am taking a closer interest in the article than I have formerly 



done. They bear the inscription " , 



GOLOSHES. Boston." At the time of writing, the 



end of December, there have been two 

 or three heavy falls of snow in the north of England, though 

 none in the south. A correspondent to a leading north of England 

 paper says that when he asked in a shop for a pair of British 

 goloshes he was told that there were none now made in England, 

 and that only American ones were kept in stock. The corre- 

 spondent then suggests that this is case where Protection might 

 be adopted with advantage, and the unemployed get some work 

 to do. Of course it is not correct to say that goloshes are not 

 made in England, though the great bulk of what are sold are of 

 American origin. The editor of the paper in question suggests 

 that they are not made by British rubber manufacturers because 

 the latter find it more profitable to make something else. With- 

 out going deeply into tariff reform amenities, I might say that 

 politicians seem to think that everything which is imported into 

 England could easily be made by our unemployed. They over- 

 look the fact that certain firms are preeminent in certain lines 

 of manufacture, because the details of the manufacture are not 

 common knowledge, or at any rate are the outcome of many 

 years of careful application and research. A patent for an im- 

 proved golosh has recently been taken out by W. Hibbert, the 

 main object being to raise the sole above the ground and thus 

 give further security against water. For this purpose the sole is 

 molded with two or three projections or legs from y 2 to 54 inches 

 high, and about ; ■', inch broad. It is claimed that the weight of 

 the golosh is not thereby appreciably added to. To the general 

 reader the name of W. Hibbert will probably not recall any 

 association with the rubber trade, and I may say that the gentle- 

 man in question whose acquaintance I made more than 20 

 years ago was the head assistant in the private laboratory of 

 the late Dr. J. H. Gladstone, f.r.s. The joint publication of 

 Messrs. Gladstone and Hibbert on the chemistry of india-rubber, 

 published in the Proceedings of the London Chemical Society 

 in 1888, may be cited as the beginning of scientific work on the 

 subject. Mr. Walter Hibbert has done no further rubber re- 

 search since Dr. Gladstone's death. 



EDITORIAL COMMENT. 



Our correspondent's reference to his first purchase of goloshes 



is particularly interesting in view of his connection with The 

 India Rubber Wori.h for a dozen years past. It is also interest- 

 ing in connection with his first purchase having been of an Amer- 

 ican make. The brand which he names is suppressed here on 

 account of ks being what is known in the United States as a 

 "second grade" article. It may not be amiss here to mention 

 that the leading makers of rubber footwear in America produce 

 two grades, which are intended to be sold at prices measurably 

 apart. The manufacturers of the article bought by our corre- 

 spondent are not excelled by any in the world, in quality or vol- 

 ume of product, but in common with all their competitors they 

 make goods to meet varying price demands. A question which 

 is suggested indirectly by our correspondent's letter is whether, 

 after all, the division of their work into two grades is worth 

 while. The manufacturer may be willing to — and may profit by — 

 accepting two prices for different grades. But do the ultimate 

 consumers benefit from the distinction? Another way to put it 

 is that the purchaser of an American rubber shoe abroad prob- 

 ably pays as much for a "second grade" product as for a "first 

 grade." It is possible that the same thing happens in shops 

 of a good character at home. Then is it worth while to make 

 two grades? 



SOME RECENT BRITISH PATENTS. 



IN connection with the vulcanizing of leather treads to pneu- 

 matic tire covers, British patent No. 18,538 — 1908, issued to 

 Drury and Grimson, is of interest. According to the specifica- 

 tion, an element which may or may not be vulcanizable is at- 

 tached to a fully cured element by applying solution, and then 

 steam-curing the whole at a low temperature for a long period. 

 Over-curing of the fully cured element is thus avoided. In 

 making leather treaded tires, a strip of leather and the tread, 

 which in this case is nearly cured, are both coated with solu- 

 tion, and when the solution is dry the leather strip is laid on 

 the tread, and the whole is rolled. The tread is then studded 

 and attached by solution to the body of the tire, and the whole 

 is taped on to a core and placed on a perforated tray in a 

 receptacle into which steam is admitted slowly. In one process, 

 steam at a pressure of about 10 pounds per square inch above 

 atmospheric pressure is admitted, and, when the receptacle has 

 warmed up, the pressure is allowed to fall to about 2V2 pounds 

 above atmospheric, the cure being completed in about 4 hours. 

 By this process the curing of the partly vulcanized element is 

 completed without over-curing. The process is also applicable 

 to the retreading of worn tires. 



A compound waterproof fabric patented by Z. S. Blackadar, 

 of Whitman. Massachusetts (British No. 17,694 — 1908) comprises 

 a layer of finished leather, to the flesh side of which is glued 

 a layer of thin flexible fabric, containing finely drawn metallic 

 wires, intermixed with the fine textile threads of its warp and 

 weft. The textile material of the fabric affords a suitable sur- 

 face for the adhesive. The textile threads may be omitted, in 

 which case the wires are more closely interwoven, and the 

 spaces between them are filled with vulcanized india-rubber or 

 other composition. The connection between the leather and 

 the fabrics may be strengthened by stitching. 



A recent British patent (No. 18,007 — 1008), issued to Charles 

 Macintosh & Co., Limited, and two other applicants, relates to a 

 compound material for making floor coverings, floor tiles, boot 

 and shoe soles, and the like. It consists of a surface layer of 

 rubber attached to a backing of felt, etc., which has been proofed, 

 stiffened, and hardened by treatment with glue, etc. The back- 

 ing may consist of several layers of felt with intervening layers 

 of cork composition or other material, and the rubber may be 

 partly vulcanized before attachment to the backing and com- 

 pletely vulcanized afterwards. Other British patents are men- 

 tioned on another page. 



